Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-19
PURE WINES.
A University Agricultural
Experiment Station.
BULLETIN NUMBER SIXTY-FIvE
Shall California Make Sophisti-
Gated Wines "A Paper Worthy
of Careful Perusai.

of Careful PerUSaI-
The discussion concerning the defini.
tion cf pure wine. and OF legislation
relating thereto, appears to have
reached a stage at which it IS desirabls
to recall, to the minds of those eOn.
cerned, the ''b0ttom f1cts' Of the case,
which have been lost sight OF in not q
few Of the arguments advanced in lie
premises. On the one hand, extreme
puris.s have gone so far a. TO contend
that even the blending Of wines from
different grapes constitutes departure
from strict rectitude; while, On the
other hand, We fini gravely advanced,
in public print ss well as speech, aud
proposed to be enacted into State law.
a declaration that only poisons shall be
excluded from the ingredients with
which wines may be doctored for the
public benefit 1t has long puzzled phi
losophe.s and law-givers how a poison
il to be defined. In the present case
the purest prodacs possible contains as
one of its essential ingredients a sub
stance that is declared by a respectable
portion OF Amsricsn opinion to be the
very poison Of 'poisons. which no ore
should touch. taste or handle 1t Is
easy to foresee how adroit lawyers ard
easy-soing ''exper 5" would. under sach
. law. manipulate almost any but the
m ost extreme cases 60 as to produce o
Disagreement of juries.
IL i. o veilknowa characteristic Of q
primitive condition of human kn0vle6ge
that for any I'll that befalls q special
medicine is sought Amorg the great
est difficulties encountered by conkcien-
tious Physicians is the persistent de-
mand of patients for some tangible
medicine in cases where nothing but q
change of hygienic conditions Is needed
Or eau accomplish q cure. Similarly, in
. primitive condition OF the wine-nak-
ing industry, the tendency is to rely on
medicines to cure all faults found In the
wine, instead Of preventing the oocur-
renee Of such faults by the application
of sound principles In its preparation
California wine-making Is Just emery
ing from this primitive condition, an
which wines were made from An india
criminate mixture of Mission and other
wine and table grapes by the ''go-As-you-
plesss" process of fermentation, or by
equally primitive methods derived from
the producers dim recollection of wha;
he saw in Germany, France CT Italy in
his youthful days. The wines thus pro-
duced were to q large extent so thor
oughly faulty that the dealers who
bought them took great risks in their
preservation snd transformation into
anything corresponding to a commercial
}y recog nizz grade. The material. for
making proper blends were not obtain
able, snd the temptation TO produce
by artificial additions at least the sem
blance of the right thing was great
even when the knowledge OF suitable
methods of after-treatnent existed
This, however. Was by NO means gener-
ally the case; winemsking and dealing
was undertaken like any other business
venture. without any SPECIAL knowledge
of the subject, because 1T was expected
to pay, and with the sole idea OF pro
dueipg, as cheaply ss possible. sCmeihiDg
that would sell as wiEe- The iniury
done to the repQtaticn of California
wines during this primitive period still
weighs down the prices and the estima-
ton Of oar bSss pr0iucss. which are
mostly hid away under foreign Labels;
outside ct the State. il Is still nOO-ed
question whether we can produce any
thing in the shape of wine that will
remain sound for some years. and that
will not shOx the earmarks Of Its origin
in some Objectionable form. Worse
than this, however, thsre remain srnone
US as remnants of the olden time. many
of the bad practices both OF producers
and dealers. Even In this year Of grace
the dealer is abroad who tries to persuade
the producer that swine Is wine" no
matter whether Mission or CabsrRel
-Saurignon; that all this talk about DIS
tincsions of kinds snd qualities is made
by impractical men who only make
trouble for the trade. and that fifteen
cents per gallon all around l. about the
right gauge.
II is quite time that these remnants OF
the good old style shouli be definitely
consigned to the rubbish pile Pro
ducers are fast awakening 20 the con
vic;ion tina. a definite plan must be pur-
sued in the plznting of vineyards, in or
der that they may themselves De ensbled
to proportion properly the blends de
sired in the market They are alsu
learning that vinemaking Il not Alto
sesher the simple and easy thing it was
supposed to be. but requires skill. ludg
ment, and close attea,ion TO details
which. only a few years age, were
secuted as being beneath the notice o.
.spractical,' men. A large proportion Oi
the best Old World varieties OF wine
grapes has been imported. and then
local adaptations are fa.t bsiSg rsecg
nizsd and systematically ssudied with 4
view to the production of definite quail
ties Conforming to the commercial de
nznd Of the world. by the blending o
suitable varieties A large number ci
producers who have created q direc
market for their products, independent!
of wine dealers, have successfully al
ranged their production so rs to be inds
pendens of any medication Whatsoever
and furnish wines conforming in ever!
resrect TO the demands of Legitimate
x.omuerceL As well as to the tastes o
consumers They furnish the livinl
proof that ssdoctoring" Is as unuecsssa,!
as it is Questionable from every Point
view.
1t is this most legitimate and desirabl
progress from crude mixing of niscslian
eous ingredients into the sembianee
wine, to the preparation and FrOnIAbl
marketing of an unin.peachable prOdue'
that is crossed and impeded by tn
manufacture of spariOus wines and b.
the false presense that the demands
the market require the sOphisticatiOn Q
the product of the grape Ii some win
producers or dealers have failed to kee
up With the progress of the times, an
are thus not in q position to ccmunan
the materials for proper blends from
their ill-assorted vineyards. that IS thei
misfortune or fault 1t hardly justifis
<hera in advocating the need and prg